Bringing cake into the office should be seen as equally harmful to colleagues in the same way as passive smoking, according to Food Standards Agency Chair Susan Jebb.
“We all like to think we’re rational, intelligent, educated people who make informed choices the whole time and we undervalue the impact of the environment,” said Jebb in an interview with the Times.
“If nobody brought in cakes into the office, I would not eat cakes in the day, but because people do bring cakes in, I eat them.”
Jebb expressed frustration with the British government delaying a television ban on junk food advertising, which led to “a complete market failure.” She urged doctors to be more willing to broach the subject of people’s weight and offer dieting advice, saying it was harmful for the United Kingdom’s health.
The chair went on to say it was not enough to rely on personal willpower to avoid overeating in a society where people are being plied with food. She added it was similar to people going into a smoky pub.
While saying the two issues were not identical, she said passive smoking inflicted harm on others “and exactly the same is true of food.”
“With smoking, after a very long time, we have got to a place where we understand that individuals have to make some effort, but that we can make their efforts more successful by having a supportive environment,” she said.
“But we still don’t feel like that about food.”
Two-thirds of adults in the United Kingdom are overweight, including one-quarter who are obese, a proportion which has doubled in the past three decades. One-fifth of children are overweight by the time they start school, with most people too heavy by 25.
Many prime ministers have gone back on anti-obesity measures because of the challenges of reconciling the need to improve people’s health and reduce pressure on the National Health Service with Conservative hostility to nanny state measures.
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson derided these polices, but he announced a crackdown on obesity in 2020 after accepting being overweight contributed to his near-death experience with COVID-19. He set out plans to ban junk food advertising on television before 9 p.m. and end buy one get one free (BOGOF) deals on unhealthy products.
British Health Secretary Steve Barclay pushed the advertising ban off in December, extending the implementation date until 2025.
Barclay, who had been resistant to bans and wanted more ways to promote healthy living, must now consider whether to press ahead with the BOGOF ban due to take effect in October. Labour said it should not go ahead during the cost of living crisis.
Jebb said the advertising of junk food was undermining people’s free will and insisted restrictions were not about the nanny state.
“Advertising means that the businesses with the most money have the biggest influence on people’s behaviour,” she said.
The comments come after it was uncovered in November Governor General Mary Simon and travelling companions dined on steak, cake, and Chardonnay on a junket to Dubai.
“Ordering enough meals of each option so that passengers have a choice is a challenging art,” said Global Affairs Canada.
Staff said Simon and 45 friends ate typical airline food. Actual menus for meals costing $218 per plate featured French crepes, beef wellington, and red velvet cake with Chantilly cream.
Jonathan Bradley is a Reporter for the Western Standard & Alberta Report. Bradley has contributed stories to the National Post, True North, and Canadaland. He obtained a master's degree in media production at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Lol, bureacrats like politicians can't keep their lips shut. Maybe show a little restraint, there are 2 liquor stores and a bar in my small town, yet somehow I am not an alcoholic. Having witnessed what alcohol does, including working in a bar for 15 months a bottle of rye lasts me months. Cold beer after working in the hot summer sun doesn't last as long, but I bet I consume less than 5 cases a year. Does anyone else remember the old Health Canada suggestions of consuming a minimum of 2000 calories if you worked outside all day long in the winter? Perhaps we better start taxing bureacrats and office workers a Health tax if they can't keep their lips shut.
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learn a little self control maybe, some people like cake for celebrations.
Lol, bureacrats like politicians can't keep their lips shut. Maybe show a little restraint, there are 2 liquor stores and a bar in my small town, yet somehow I am not an alcoholic. Having witnessed what alcohol does, including working in a bar for 15 months a bottle of rye lasts me months. Cold beer after working in the hot summer sun doesn't last as long, but I bet I consume less than 5 cases a year. Does anyone else remember the old Health Canada suggestions of consuming a minimum of 2000 calories if you worked outside all day long in the winter? Perhaps we better start taxing bureacrats and office workers a Health tax if they can't keep their lips shut.
How woke can you be? Next they will ask us to stop breathing!
Moderation in all, excess in none.
Enjoy your office cake (and at breakfast, lunch and dinner if you want........god knows I have....)
Routine heart attacks, strokes and blood clots didn't appear in the general population until after the COVID-19 vaccine roll-outs.
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